House lacks regular harassment training

Filner's workplace of 20 years doesn't reinforce rules for supervisors

Members and staff of the U.S. House of Representatives, where San Diego Mayor Bob Filner served for 20 years, are not required to undergo regular sexual harassment prevention training — a standard out-of-step with other private- and public-sector workplaces in San Diego and around the country.

Skipping such training would be unlawful in California, where larger employers are required to put supervisors — defined as people with the power to hire and fire — through the training every two years.

That standard extends to members of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, managers at large employers like Scripps Health, supervisors for the state of California, and members of the state Assembly. In the Assembly and some state departments, other staff must also attend, officials there said.

Yes
84% (114)

No
16% (21)

135 total votes.

State senators go through such training more often — every year as part of their ethics training, said Dina Hidalgo, deputy secretary of human resources for the California State Senate. All other Senate staff are required to take the training every other year.

Training every two years is a good rule of thumb, and employers should extend such training to all employees regardless of their position in the organization, said Deb Keary, vice president at the Society for Human Resource Management. Companies should document such training to protect the employer in the event of a lawsuit, she said.

“You want to have a workplace that’s respectful of all the employees no matter who they are,” Keary said. “You have to have a no-tolerance policy on sexual harassment.”

The law set up the Congressional Office of Compliance, which mediates complaints and conducts training when requested. The office said it does not comment on which individuals or offices may have sought help from them.

New members of Congress go through an orientation, which includes training on what constitutes harassment. But Filner was last a new member in 1993, and it's unclear what the practices were at that time.

Filner did sign on to a pledge aimed at creating a safe workplace for women, sponsored by the Capitol Hill Women’s Political Caucus in the early 1990s, said Karen Rose, who at the time was serving as the group’s sexual harassment task force chair.

Signing on meant good publicity via the caucus’ honor roll, and Rose is certain that Filner signed it because she received a phone call from him at the time.

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“He missed the deadline, that's why he called me personally. That was exceptional, they didn’t really do that, except Filner did,” Rose said. “He called me personally to get on this thing, and he blamed the incompetence of his staff” on why he was late.

A spokeswoman for Filner did not respond to a voicemail message left Wednesday morning seeking information about what sexual harassment training Filner may have participated in, in Congress or as mayor, before the allegations surfaced. Filner has now vowed to take part in prevention training.

It would be unconstitutional for the House to mandate sexual harassment training under power of expulsion, said Shaun Martin, a law professor at the University of San Diego. The Constitution mandates only that members must be 25 or older, have been a U.S. citizen for seven years, and reside in the state they’re representing.

“Congress could, however, require harassment training with lesser sanctions; for example, by publicizing the names of any representative that did not complete the training,” he said. “But Congress does not feel like subjecting itself to such rules. Hence where we are.”

Rita Clinton, 54, of Clairemont, said at the Midway post office where she works the standard that you don't harass people is reinforced regularly.

"They have posters all over the place," Clinton said. "We're familiar with it, so they should be, too."

She said she understands why the rules are not as prominent in Congress.

"You're talking about a bunch of men who are privileged and think that standards don't apply to them," Clinton said. "Filner's a perfect example. A lot of women actually thought he was pro-women. And yet when it came to his personal standards, there were no standards."

In a 2010 survey of HR professionals, 59 percent of respondents said they provide sexual harassment training for employees every year or every other year. The survey was conducted for the Society for Human Resource Management and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The society’s Keary said harassment is often a reason for termination. She said employers should look for patterns and be aware that people who harass once will often strike again.

“If you have a pattern of misbehavior with someone, they really can’t stay at your organization,” Keary said.